Forty Under 40

Dameon Guess, 34

Co-founder/co-owner,
Jakprints Inc.

Jacob Edwards and Dameon Guess never have been ones to take the easy road.

They both dropped out ofhigh school. After reconnecting, they began a full-color printing and apparel printing shop, Jakprints, because no one would print in the small quantities their clients needed. Since it opened in 1998, that print shop has used only the latest, top-shelf technology that minimizes their operations' effects on the environment.

Today, the once-small print shop now boasts 130 employees and 61,000 clients, from heavy hitters such as AT&T to small art and design galleries in Cleveland and across the country.

The two men, skateboarding buddies from their teenage years, reconnected in Florida in the late 1990s. Mr. Edwards, playing in a touring band at the time, had started a small commercial printing shop for his band and others he met on the road. Mr. Guess, who moved to Florida when he turned 18 and stayed for six years, developed a small group of graphic arts clients for whom he sourced printing.

Thus a unique partnership was born, one that from the start was a pioneer: Here were two young guys, insisting their clients use environmentally friendly techniques and materials — soy-based printing inks, for instance — that were not en vogue and pushing vendors to accept their stipulations.

“It was a process, because many vendors were hesitant,” Mr. Edwards said. “But we thought that if we could do enough of this, to get enough volume, we could then control the process. Once we did that, we told vendors, "This is how we're doing it.' If they wouldn't, we weren't in business with them.”

These days, the pair often is overseas — Mr. Guess was in Germany in October — researching new options in forestry and recycled content. They agree, though, that their high standards have worked because the end product is well-liked.

“We built ourselves with our work; word of mouth is so powerful,” Mr. Guess said. “A band asks another band where they had something done, and they're told we have credibility and integrity and do good work, and that multiplies.”

Thunder::tech, a Cleveland integrated marketing agency, is a Jakprints vendor and its president, Jason Therrien, is a friend of Messrs. Edwards and Guess. Mr. Therrien said the pair has pulled off quite a feat.

“They became a leader in their industry very quickly, and that's a very cutthroat business,” Mr. Therrien said. “The industry watches them, and that's pretty incredible.”